When World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) needed more than a mile of dark fiber connects for their campus facilities, they turned to Black Box. Black Box was able to surpass the customer’s expectations thanks to their broad product lines.
Background
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is one of the largest
sports entertainment organizations on the planet, broadcasting
more than 500 events a year to about 36 million viewers around
the world. They produce a monthly average of 400 program
hours from their Stamford, Conn., campus, including 35 of
domestic programming, 13 of home video, 264 of localizing
shows for a wide range of international markets, 99 of network
material, and 29 of OTT product.
The Stamford facility delivers significant content with the help of
its 76,000-square-foot space. The production is spread over two
buildings, five modular buildings/trailers, and three leased
areas on adjacent properties. There are also nine data centers
spread across three of the buildings, with more than a mile of
dark fiber connecting the sites.
Challenge
In 2016, WWE considered a new KVM system that could
accommodate their production load. The facility was limited
to 64 ports with unreliable line ties that often caused system
breakdowns.The analog VGA system also did not travel long
distances well, and suffered from low video quality and limited
overall resolution. The production team’s graphics system was
also on a separate matrix, making it difficult to get from one
system to another.
The WWE required a setup that would enable control-room
producers to seamlessly use multiple screens at high resolutions.
The company also wanted a clean, easy user-management
system and the flexibility to add both engineering and operator
systems.
Black Box expressed interest in the upgrade and was chosen
among three possible vendors due to their pre-sales plan and
strong support record.
“From the start, Black Box helped us put together a good list for
what would be needed for each station,” said WWE Director of
Broadcast Engineering Jasper Veldhuis. “They put together a
configuration template with the different extenders and
connections that we would need for each device and were even
able to help us with some of the design.”
Following the initial agreement, the WWE also asked Black Box
to support their need for an additional control room.
The Solution
Black Box was able to surpass the customer’s expectations
thanks to their broad product lines. “With Black Box, you can
basically get anything you need,” Veldhuis said. “They possessed
flexibility that assured us we could get what we needed now as
well as be positioned to get other equipment if we need it later.
Then there was the wiring. We wired most of the matrix with
their cables and connectors, and it was nice to order it from one
vendor.”
Black Box’s eight-in-one solution, which connects eight screens
and requires just one box to plug into the matrix, was also a
deciding factor. Explained Veldhuis, “We knew it would allow
producers to do things so much faster rather than jump from
computer to computer.”
This was certainly a large project for Black Box. It encompassed
130 non-linear editing systems, 27 graphic production
workstations, three linear editing and control room suites, five
audio production rooms with four voice-over booths, a music
composer’s room, one virtual studio, and a hard set.
In a three-month buildout, Black Box revamped the WWE’s
system by installing a 288-port switch populated with 246 TXs
and RXs. They also installed a 48-port switch populated with
36 TXs and RXs, which was used for their extra control room.
The overall system was designed to allow the WWE to upgrade
to a 576-port switch if needed. Black Box Cat 6 cabling and
connectors were also used, delivering a product continuity that
appealed to the customer.
The Results
Since implementation was completed in October 2016, Veldhuis
has been very pleased with how the new system has enhanced
efficiency for the WWE’s production team.
“The system has made the most improvement in our workflow
within our production control rooms,” he said. “It has enabled
extreme flexibility for production to work where they want. If
someone from production wants graphics in the back row or the
front row, both are possible. If they want graphics in another room,
that’s also possible. He added, “The quality of the video, and zero
latency for video and control, is equal to connecting directly to the
computer. This allows access to all systems in a transparent way
for users. Having access to hundreds of computers from one user
station with multiple displays is life changing.”
A “central ingest” is another huge advantage the new system
offers. Black Box purpose-built a GFX KVM to provide this key
component. “Users can access both AVID and EVS with one
mouse and keyboard,” Veldhuis said. “They can seamlessly work
on both systems to ingest files and live feeds. This development
makes sharing resources far easier, which provides a cost savings
as less equipment must be purchased to accomplish the WWE’s
production needs.”
Veldhuis wouldn’t hesitate to use Black Box again or recommend
them to other companies. “They helped us throughout the process
and went out of their way to make sure any difficulties we faced
were overcome,” he said.